Ministry of Justice

Prisons: Telephones

lord german: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many violent incidents occurred at shared phones in prison landings in each year from 2012 to 2018.

lord keen of elie: This information is not recorded centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. We recognise that access to telephones can be one of the causes of violence in prisons. As part of our prison safety programme we have developed a violence diagnostic tool that allows prisons to analyse patterns of violent incidents and to identify any ‘hotspots’, such as telephone queues, where preventative action needs to be taken.

Prisons: Telephones

lord german: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reduce the costs of phone calls from prisons to reflect the tariffs in place for the rest of the UK.

lord keen of elie: The prisons PINphone system is not comparable to any other public payphone service, it requires significant investment to meet specific requirements and delivery into prisons and is reflected in the cost of calls. That said, HMPPS is keen to make calls as reasonable as is possible and is therefore working on a programme to extend the availability of in-cell telephony so that by March 2020 there are 50 public sector prisons with phones in cells with call rates reduced.

Prisons: Telephones

lord german: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reduce prison landing overcrowding to allow for safer and more secure phone calls from prison.

lord keen of elie: Currently, 20 public sector prisons have in-cell telephony, meaning prisoners at these prisons can access the same telephony service that they would through the landing phones but through phones in their cells. We are currently rolling out in-cell telephony to a further 30 prisons, meaning that by March 2020, 50 public sector prisons will have phones in cells.

Prisons: Telephones

lord german: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to allow competition in the provision of phones in prison.

lord keen of elie: The Ministry of Justice is currently pulling together requirements for future telephony provision in prisons. Once completed, it is the intention of the Ministry to run a competitive process to coincide with the expiry of the current contract.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Russia: Espionage

lord west of spithead: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to counter Russian efforts to confront and destabilise the UK, as described in the speech on fourth generation espionage by Alex Younger, Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, on 3 December.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: ​As the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service stated in his speech on 3 December, we are drawing together all our national capabilities to detect, deter and counter hybrid attacks and other threats to the United Kingdom. Together with our allies, in response to the attack in Salisbury, we coordinated the largest ever collective expulsion of Russian intelligence officers, fundamentally degrading Russian intelligence capability for years to come. We are investing £1.9 billion into our National Cyber Security Strategy and with our international partners have shone a light on the reckless and irresponsible cyber activities of the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU. We are a leading voice within the EU on delivering sanctions in respect of Russia's actions in Ukraine and we work closely with our NATO allies to deliver effective deterrence and reassurance measures. We will continue to work closely with our international allies to protect the UK and our interests from Russia-based threats.